By Our Reporter
SHILLONG: The joint inspection committee, constituted by the State Government whether the cement plants established in Jaintia Hills had in actuality flouted environmental norms, has submitted its report.
According to an official source, though the Committee submitted its report to the State Government on August 31, the latter is yet to initiate any action against the cement plants based on the report.
The committee, headed by Chief Conservator of Forest, Social Forestry CP Marak and the Additional Principal Chief Conservator of Forest , Regional office, Union Ministry of Environment and Forest, BN Jha observed that several cement companies are occupying forest areas in Jaintia Hills.
The source added that several patches purchased by the cement plants in the district are forest land and the cement plants have to compensate for this.
A few areas were found to be non-forest as per the site visit of the inspection committee.
The joint inspection committee was constituted after the High Level Committee headed by the Principal Secretary (Mining and Geology) JP Prakash had submitted the report to the Government on November 25 last year.
The JP Prakash report had also said some cement companies had procured land beyond the required limit even encroaching the forest land violating the Forest (Conservation) Act 1980 and Environment (Protection) Act, 1986.
According to the official source, the companies would be asked to carry out compensatory afforestation as per the inspection report of the committee. “Various punitive actions can also be taken against the cement plans for violating various provisions of Forest (Conservation) Act 1980 and Environment (Protection) Act, 1986”, he said.
Though JP Prakash High Level Committee had completed the report on the status of cement plants in the forest areas of Jaintia Hills, the appointment of the joint inspection committee was necessitated by the State Government after the Central Executive Committee of the Supreme Court had written a letter to the Government in this regard.
According to the Supreme Court directive, if there is a claim that the land used is non forest and if the doubt persists, the site should be inspected by the State Forest Department together with the Regional Office of the Union Ministry of Environment and Forest to ascertain the status of forest.